


these fragile days

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a relatively tiny person, Artemis sure could pack a punch when she sneezed. The first time she let one rip in the cave she had just come through one of the Z-tubes, and Wally had an actual moment of panic where he thought they were under fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	these fragile days

For a relatively tiny person, Artemis sure could pack a punch when she sneezed. The first time she let one rip in the cave she had just come through one of the Z-tubes, and Wally had an actual moment of panic where he thought they were under fire. 

“Bless you,” Robin said as she made her way into the common room where they were all hanging out after school. Her face looked a little ashy, and her whole body was slumping tiredly. 

She nodded at him, and Wally noticed her eyes were watering. 

“Holy shit,” he said, genuine awe in his voice. “Was that _you_? That sound actually came from you, jesus.” 

“Shut up,” Artemis mumbled, her nose was running and there were tears in her eyes still. 

“Are you okay?” M’gann asked, hovering (literally) at Artemis’ shoulder. 

“Yeah,” Artemis said, waving off the attention. “I’m fine.” 

“You’re not getting sick, are you?” M’gann asked, sounding more worried. 

“No,” Artemis said. She made her way across the room and slumped into the couch. “I never get sick.” The credibility of her statement was slightly undercut by a violent, hacking cough that shook her whole body. 

Wally actually recoiled a tiny bit. But in his defense, so did everyone else. “I’m not so sure about that, champ,” he said. 

“I will fight you,” Artemis told him, trying for a vicious glare. It was undercut by her red, runny nose. 

“Normally, babe,” Wally said, holding up his hands in surrender, “I absolutely would not question your ability to kick my ass, but circumstances right now seem to be indicating otherwise.” 

Instead of calling him out, or chewing his head off for calling her babe, she just settled further into the couch, which just went to prove Wally’s point, he thought. 

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive,” Kaldur cut in, his voice unflappable as always. “But might it be wise for Artemis to head home? M’gann and Conner have not had as much exposure to human viruses, and I must admit to feeling some trepidation towards getting sick myself.” 

M’gann hovered back a few inches, and Artemis burrowed her face deeper into the couch. “I can’t go home,” she said. 

“Why not?” M’gann asked, immediately sounding concerned. 

“Because it’s so far away!” It was the closest to a whine Wally had ever heard her sound. He wisely kept his mouth shut. Sick or not, she would very likely whip his ass if he called her out on it. 

“Okay, okay,” Wally said. He reached forward and wrapped his fingers around her forearm, and pulled her to her feet. 

“No,” she said, pushing at his chest ineffectively. 

“Come on, sicky.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and in one quick motion leaned down and tucked the other one behind her knees and lifted her off her feet. Under normal circumstances, picking up Artemis without her express permission and forewarning would be considered suicidal, but he figured her reflexes were dulled. 

“Put me down,” she mumbled. 

“Nah,” he said smiling. “Let’s get you away from those with the weak immune systems. You can sleep it off in one of the spare bedrooms.” 

“Yeah,” she said, and it was a testament to how crappy she must be feeling if she was actually _agreeing_ with him. 

“Do you need anything?” M’gann asked from the other side of the room. She, Conner, Kaldur, and Rob were huddled together, like if they moved any closer they would automatically catch whatever it was Artemis had. 

Wally just shook his head. He was totally going to tease Rob later about his germaphobic tendencies. “She’ll be fine. It’s just a cold for heaven’s sake.” 

Artemis snorted against his chest. Wally tried not to notice the way she was pressing her face against him. “For heaven’s sake,” she repeated. “You sound like a grandma.” 

“Do you want to walk to the bed?” Wally asked as he carried her down the hall. Artemis chose not to respond to his question. He figured it was acceptable only because she was sick. She felt very warm in his arms and he was a little concerned she had a fever. “Do you feel like you have the flu?” he asked. 

She shrugged a sad shoulder. “No,” she said. “Maybe.” 

“Okay, well,” Wally said unhelpfully. He nudged the door to one of the unoccupied bedrooms opened with his foot, and crossed the room, laying Artemis down gently on the bed. “Do you want to get under the covers?” he asked. 

She nodded and he pulled back the blankets for her. Artemis crawled under them, and immediately pulled them up cocooning herself. He could barely see the top of her head. 

“Do you want anything?” he asked. “Juice? Soup?” 

“Um,” she said, her voice barely audible from under the mountain of comforter. “Maybe later?” 

“Okay,” he said. “Just call if you need me.” 

He thought he might have heard her calling out thanks as he left the room and shut the door behind him, but it was impossible to say for sure. 

Back in the TV room, the rest of the team was waiting nervously for his report. 

“Relax,” he said. “It’s a cold. She’ll live, and so will all of you. She just needs to sleep it off.” He was about to add a ‘sheesh, you’d think none of you had ever been sick before,’ but considering he was dealing with a Martian, a clone who was less than a year old, an Atlantian, and Robin (sickness was probably not acceptable in the Batcave) he reconsidered. 

Instead, he sat down and said, “Anyone up for a game of Mario Party?” 

They played for a couple hours, and Wally tried to ignore the worried looks his teammates were shooting down the hall in fifteen minute intervals. Finally, he stood up and tossed his controller onto the couch. “Oh my _god_ fine, I’ll go check on her.” 

He could feel four relieved sets of eyes follow him as he disappeared down the hall. 

He knocked lightly on the door, and opened it a crack. “Artemis?” he called softly. 

An answering grunt came from somewhere under the blankets. 

He walked the rest of the way into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?” he asked. She poked her head out from under the blankets, and Wally put his hand on her forehead. It was warm, but not alarmingly so. 

“Ugh,” she said. “Terrible.” 

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “Thirsty?” 

She seemed to consider this. “A bit thirsty,” she admitted after a moment. 

“Water?” 

She nodded. 

He walked back down the hall and into the kitchen. He tried to ignore the expectant looks from his teammates, but there was only so much a guy could put up with.

“She’s _fine_ ,” he said again. “I’m getting her some water.” 

This seemed to satisfy them, and they turned back to the game they were playing. Wally filled a glass with water, and grabbed a package of saltine crackers off the shelf. 

Artemis let out a low chuckle when she saw him. 

“What?” he asked, as he sat down on the bed. 

She shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she muttered and took a long sip from the water. “I was just wondering if this was the first time you’d brought someone else food.” 

“Ha ha,” he said, and moved further up the bed. He settled with his back against the headboard, and took the half-full glass of water from Artemis. She reached out for the crackers. 

They sat together in silence for a few minutes as she munched on them. Eventually, she handed them back to him. He held out the water again, but she shook her head. He reached across and put the glass and crackers on the bedside table. 

“Any better?” he asked. 

She shrugged. “A little.” 

He smiled at her, and reached out to smooth some of her hair away from her face. Her normally neat ponytail had come loose while she slept. It was a little bit adorable, not that he’d ever admit it. 

“Do you want me to go?” he asked. “So you can get more sleep.” 

“Whatever,” she said. “It doesn’t matter to me.” 

“I--” Wally ventured, and drew a deep breath to gather his courage. “I could stay for a bit,” he said. “If you wanted.” 

Her shoulder was pressed against his, and he held out his arm, tucking it around her to give her more space. 

She shrugged. “You probably have better things to do,” she said. Her voice raised a little at the end, making it sound like a question.

He shook his head, and shuffled down on the mattress a little. A person would probably never say that Artemis _cuddled_ , not if they wanted to live anyway, but she pressed her body up into his warmth, and his arm stayed around her shoulder. 

“No,” he said after a minute. “Nowhere else to be.”


End file.
